Website:	www.ontarioparks.ca

 

Wheatly is located in Ontario’s southernmost tip and this provincial park offers a shelter for many creatures.  Migrating birds stop here, turtles sun on logs and herons wade in the shallow creeks.  A typical day for you may include watching for birds in the Carolinian forest and camping under oak and hickory trees.

 Featured within Wheatley's Lake Erie shoreline are water, woods, wildflowers, and whompers.

The lush Carolinian forest is commonly found much farther south.  An unusual component of the woods is the shagbark hickory, a southern tree species with shaggy bark and grows straight and slender with few, low branches.

Plants and Wildlife

The dense forest contains oak and hickory stands.  The forest floor is alive with the colours and fragrances of trilliums and other spring wildflowers.  Unusual plants such as cardinal flower, royal fern, grape fern, cinnamon fern, and shining club moss can also be found. In the open fields near the park entrance, you can observe samples of agrimony, ragged orchids, spike-rush, wild bergamot and big bluestem grasses.

Many species of butterfly and bird have frequented the region for centuries.  The zebra mussel, a small, sebra-striped mollusc, is a newcomer in the animal group.  Its rapid infestation of Great Lakes waters has been called one of the worst ecological disasters in North America this decade.  The shells of dead zebra mussels often wash ashore, so be careful when walking barefoot.

In summer, painted and snapping turtles, spectacular herons and egrets wade in the creek shallows.  The harmless eastern fox snake also called a whomper is often encountered.